The Snake Mark (TSM) DISCONTINUED
by Viperclaw1575
Summary: This is the sequel to my first story Shadows. Please read the first book first. The battle against the Gloomforest continues. Viper and Twig, the two kits of Shadow are plunged headfirst into their destiny. Will they drown in this new world that they're in or will they fight to bring their lives back to normal? Link to Shadows: /s/12668090/1/Shadows
1. Chapter 1

**A/N And here I am, publishing the first chapter of the second book. two weeks after I finished the first. I'm so sorry that didn't publish this earlier, December is a really hectic month at my school. hopefully I'll be able to write more during Christmas break, but plans might change. I'll try to update at least one chapter per week. I've also been wondering, should I do the point of view from just Viper or should I do Viper and Twig alternating each chapter? I'll just do the next chapter as Twig to let you guys see what his pov would be like. leave a comment on whether I should do both or just one. Enjoy the chapter!**

"MOM! MOM HELP!" I scream. The minute Mom and Soot left the clearing Hawkclaw had changed, he'd immediately tried to grab me and Twig. I may not be good at fighting, but I have pretty good reflexes. I saw his paw reaching for us and dove to the side, dragging Twig with me. Now we're running around in a deadly game of tag, if he catches us… well I don't know what would happen, but I don't want to know. While I was lost in my thoughts my paws kept running, keeping me away from Hawkclaw, but since I wasn't watching where I was going… I ran into a tree, yep just completely smashed my face into the tree bark and let me say this, tree bark tastes horrid.

I actually think Hawkclaw paused for a moment, surprised by my stupidity, but I couldn't tell, he snatched me by my scruff and continued to chase after my brother as if he didn't have a kit dangling from his jaws. But then again I didn't exactly weight that much. "Run Twig!" I yell, hoping that at least he would be able to escape, luck apparently hates me. Even as Hawkclaw chased after my brother I was trying to escape, I waved my paws around, trying to find a place to sink my claws into. I could almost reach his neck with my hind paws, now that would've been awesome, if I'd managed to kill Hawkclaw from where I was. I could however reach his chin with my forepaws if I stretched upwards, I unsheathed my claws and swung at his chin. My claws sank into Hawkclaw's flesh and he let out a grunt of pain. His blood dripped from the wound onto my head, great.

While all this was happening Twig was still running from Hawkclaw, he didn't notice until too late that Hawkclaw had stopped. Leaves sprayed up as Twig tried to make a hasty retreat, keyword, tried, he didn't even get a tail length away before Hawkclaw grabbed him and now both of us were hanging from our "father's" jaws. The world started to shimmer and blur, "What's happening?" I heard Twig call, but I didn't have an answer to that, I didn't know either. Two very indistinct figures ran into the clearing, I think that it was Mom and Soot, but my vision was too blurry to see whether I was right or not. Then the world faded away and I fell into darkness.

The empty black space that we fell into made me feel quite sick, actually, very sick. Imagine getting turned upside down, spun around 1000 times and then given a major headache. That's exactly how it felt to be warped into this, black hole? I guess that's what I'll call it. So when the world finally reappeared around me I found myself in what looked like a makeshift camp. Everycat in the camp turned to stare at us when we appeared, they looked at Hawkclaw and when they saw us hanging from his jaws they burst into cheers.

"What's going on?!" Twig called to me, "I don't know!" I yelled back, "Well, I'm gonna be sick!" he yowled. A heartbeat later a terrible retching noise filled the air and the stench… Twig wasn't lying. I wrinkled up my nose and peered over at my brother, he looked completely miserable. His eyes looked glazed over and a trickle of vomit dripped from his chin. "Hey!" I yelled up at Hawkclaw, "What just happened?" Hawkclaw didn't respond for a moment, then he lowered his head and set them on the ground, "We just teleported, I could've walked back, but I didn't want your mother to follow me. Also had to see if you were actually my children. If you didn't have Gloomforest blood in you, you would've died. You'll eventually get used to teleporting and stop vomiting so much."

I stared at Hawkclaw and hissed, "We could've died?! Why would you even try that?" he just stared at me and didn't reply. "Fine." I snapped, walking over to Twig, "Come on Twig, we're going back home." thankfully he seemed to have gotten over the effects of teleporting and looked up at me hopefully, "We are?" I nodded, "We're getting out of here." I led Twig over to where the entrance of the camp seemed to be and walked out. Or at least I tried to walk out. The minute my paw crossed the line a cat appeared in front of me, "Hello young one, I'm afraid you won't be getting out."

The cat was standing right in the entrance, a normal cat wouldn't be able to get past him, but a kit could. I glanced at Twig and then darted forward, squeezing past the cat, I popped out on the other side of the barrier and scrambled to my feet, turning back to see if Twig made it. Apparently my smaller size had made my escape much easier than for Twig, he was still stuck, trying to wriggle out from his spot between the barrier and the cat's leg. I darted forward and grabbed his scruff, trying to pull him free from the camp wall. "Ow! Viper!" Twig yelped as for the fiftieth time I tried to pull him free, "Sorry! Why couldn't you have been smaller?" I grumbled as I tugged again and again. Some part of me was wondering why no one was coming to get us, to take us back into the camp, but I didn't realize that this was their plan, I didn't realize that they were keeping Twig trapped and relying on the fact that I wouldn't leave my brother behind.

"Wait, I have an idea," I said, "I'm gonna dig underneath you and the space might be big enough for you to slip out." Twig nodded and I ducked beneath him and began to dig, before I realized that there was no point, Twig's body wasn't even touching the ground, "Hey Twig?" "Yeah?" "Did you try to jump through?" "Uh, Yeah I did." I snarled in annoyance, "Well I have no clue on how to get you out." I announced as I popped back out in front of Twig, "Well, why don't you-" Twig was cut off as the cat quickly snatched Twig and tossed him to a she-cat who was standing nearby.

"Hey!" I yelled, darting forward and sinking my claws into the cat's leg, "Give my brother back!" the cat turned his head down and looked at me, "I won't give your brother back," he rumbled, "but I can help you join him." in a blink of an eye the cat grabbed me and passed me off to the she-cat who was already holding Twig. "That's not what I meant!" I yowled. At this point I didn't even know how to escape, maybe I was trying to make them deaf or shatter their eardrums, I don't even know.

The cat carried us over to a weird structure that was at the edge of the camp, she stood in front of it, as if waiting for a signal or something. I twisted around trying to free myself and I saw literally all of the cats in this camp running towards a single cat standing in the middle of the camp. Through all of the cats I saw a small flash of back fur and the glint of a blue eye. It was my mom, she came for us. My joy quickly vanished and turned into horror as I watched my mom display a side of her that I'd never seen, it was like watching a badger in a camp full of kits. My mom mowed down every cat in her path, leaving a trail of death behind her, as she came towards us. When everycat in the camp except one was lying dead on the ground my mom seemed to come out of her trance, she looked around and blinked, looking as horrified as I felt.

The one cat left was the one who had prevented me and Twig from leaving the camp. I still didn't know what the cat's name was but it was obviously unimportant. My mom's eyes flicked over to where we were when the structure thingy began to flash multiple colors. I saw her eyes harden and she saw Shadow leap at the cat, teeth bared in a snarl. I watched, oddly intrigued by the two cats battling in front of me. As my mom darted in and slashed the cat's face I thought that the battle was over for sure, except I was wrong. The cat began to literally grow. The cat grew so big that from where I was I couldn't see the top of the cat. I worried that my mom had died, but soon the cat began to shake and shudder, maybe my mom was killing it.

As suddenly as the cat had grown huge, it became small again, collapsing on the ground. "Come on, hurry up." the cat holding me muttered to herself, glancing at the strange structure, which was now slowly filling with a sparkly/slimy substance . My mom picked herself up and launched herself at the cat holding us, her claws raked the cat's face and the cat's blood dripped down to the ground, narrowly missing my paw. I saw a flicker of movement and opened my mouth to warn my mom, but it was too late. The cat crashed into her side and knocked her away from the cat holding me and Twig. The two wrestled for a moment before my mom broke free and tried to reach us. The cat grabbed her leg and held her down, again.

I could see anger spark in my mom's eyes and she whirled around, and sank her teeth into the cat's throat. The cat let out a gurgling laugh and then lunged up, sinking his teeth into my mom's throat. "No!" I wailed, as I saw my mom collapse and the light drain from her eyes. The cat holding me stepped into the structure and the world flashed, before disappearing.

We landed in some sort of cave, I could hear Twig whimpering and someone was sniffling, oh wait, that's me. Tears dripped from my nose and I hung uselessly from the jaws of this cat. Another cats walked up to our kidnapper and ordered, "Put them in cell 2, keep them together for now, we'll start changing them in half a moon.

My brain was too numb to fully process what was being said, but when they threw me into a small hollow in the wall of the cave and placed a rock over the entrance, I began to panic. I scrambled around, scratching at the walls and trying to find an escape tunnel or something. I bumped into a corner and began to run along it, felling the wall for some kind of secret. I didn't find anything, but in the corner of the cell I tripped over something furry. "Ow." I grunted as I picked myself up, "Viper?" a voice asked, "Twig?" I questioned, the furry thing came back around and crashed into me, "Viper! I thought we were put in separate cells!" I grinned, even though I knew Twig couldn't see me in the dark, "We'll find a way out." I promised, even though I had no clue if we would actually be able to find a way out.


	2. Chapter 2 Twig

**A/N Oh man, its umm been a while... a really long while... I feel really bad about not updating for so long. It's in Twig's P.O.V, I'm still trying to decide if I should do both P.O.V's or just one. If you have any comments,** **criticism** **, or opinions, feel free to leave a review. Welp, anyways, enjoy this really long overdue chapter.**

 **-Viper**

I have no clue where I am. It's really dark and it smells musty, all I know is that I'm not alone, I can smell Viper next to me. The fact that I'm not alone reassures me, I don't want to die alone in this place. "Viper?" I call, "Huh? Wha.. Oh Twig." her sleepy voice calls back, "Well, good morning, dozer." I teased, "Shut it Twig." she growled, "Ooh I'm soo scared of my little sister." I taunted. Hey don't look at me like that, this is revenge for the time Viper put burrs in my nest and called me a hedgehog. For a moment there was no reply, but I got my answer when a small furry object landed on my back. I immediately dropped to the ground and rolled, trying to get Viper off like I'd been taught. However, when I dropped I realized too late that Viper had already jumped off. I quickly shot to my feet and scanned the cave for any signs of Viper, but with the combination of my terrible night vision and Viper's brown and black pelt, I had no idea where she was.

Something hit me on the flank and I stumbled, more from surprise than actual pain, I whirled around to face Viper but she wasn't there, something flashed from the darkness and hit my shoulder, somehow making it go numb. I let out a yelp as my paw collapsed from under me and dropped me onto the ground. As I lay there, stunned, Viper padded out of wherever she'd been hiding and placed a paw on my neck, "I win." she declared. I bobbed my head in submission and grunted, "Can you at least let me up?" she grinned and removed her paw, allowing me to rise to my paws. How'd you learn to fight like that?" I questioned, remembering how I'd beat her in almost every fight we fought, "I found my own style and got a better teacher." she answered. "Could you-" I was cut off as the door of our cell creaked open and a guard stuck his head in, "You're coming with me." he growled.

"Wait, for what?" I asked, hoping to get an answer, he just smirked and said, "You'll see." I opened my mouth to ask another question but the guard barged into our cell and rudely shoved us out of the cell and began to herd us out of the cell through the shadowy corridors. "Hey! Where are you taking us?!" Viper snarled, "Shut up you insolent kit!" the guard snarled, as he halted in the middle of the corridor, "I've had enough of your stupid yapping! One more peep from either of you and I'll kill the other kit!" seconds passed before the guard started to walk again, apparently satisfied that Viper wouldn't be asking any more questions. I tried to pay attention to the route we were taking to wherever we were being led but there were so many corridors and we took so many turns that I lost track of which path we were actually taking.

After what seemed like an endless maze of tunnels the guard led us out of the tunnels… into a peaceful clearing. Sure, the clearing was surrounded by guards, but the feeling of sunlight on my pelt and the breeze on my whiskers felt really nice. It's been forever since I last felt the elements, I glanced over at Viper and opened my mouth to ask her about how long we'd been in the cell, but she saw my mouth open and shook her head, swiping a paw across her neck. Oh, right, the guard. I saw the dark mouth of another tunnel looming in front of us and I paused to savor the feeling of the sun warming my pelt, man I really missed the sun. "Hurry up!" the guard yowls from the mouth of tunnel. I glance around one more and hurry to catch up with the guard and Viper.

As soon as we enter the tunnel I notice that this part is obviously for important things and cats, the tunnel itself was bigger and there were small holes in the ceiling that let in some natural light. The guard stopped in front of a boulder with guards standing on each side of it. The boulder guards spotted me and Viper standing behind the guard and pushed the boulder aside, revealing an ominous tunnel hidden behind it. "Go." the guard commanded us, with a worried glance at me Viper slipped into the tunnel. I hesitated for a moment before following VIper into the tunnel.

When I reached the end of the tunnel and saw Viper I went over to her and hissed, "Why didn't you try to run? That was the perfect opportunity!" she glared at me and hissed, "If you'd been paying attention you would've noticed the amount of guards around here! If either of us had tried to escape we would've been caught and one of us killed! If you want to try go ahead, I'd try to distract them for a while but I'm telling you, you wouldn't make it very far."

I sighed in annoyance, "Why did I end up with a sister who actually makes a good point?" Viper grinned, "Love you too, big bro." I snorted, "Sure.." she rolled her eyes at me and said, "Yep I can see that staying in a cave didn't improve your personality." "Hey!" I complained.

"Enough chatter." a voice snarled, I whirled around and spotted a ragged looking cat sulking in the shadows, "I would enjoy a few kills right now but your presence is requested in by the council, apparently you are 'important' to them." "Important?" VIper asked, wariness in her eyes, "What did it sound like? Now just start moving filth." beside me Viper bared her teeth and let out a low growl, I unsheathed my claws, sensing a fight. "Well this so called 'filth' comes with a set of claws." she snarled as she launched herself at the cat. The cat grins, revealing a mouthful of yellow, glistening teeth, "Perfect, I've been waiting to sink my claws into something." he cackled as he leapt to meet Viper in the center of the cave.

Some part of my brain was yelling at me to stop them, but the majority of my brain was confused, I'd never seen my sister act like this, she'd always been the calmer and more peaceful out of the two of us. Maybe the worst of her had come out because we were living in constant danger. Seriously, I don't even know if this cat in front of me is the same cat that I used to spar with when we were younger. "Mange!" a sharp voice snaps from the passageway, "Enough! What have I said about attacking the heirs?" the cat, Mange, let out a grumble but backed off.

"Sorry about Mange. Welcome to the lair of the Gloomforest, I am Achlys." as she spoke Achlys stepped out of the shadows, revealing that she was a pale white she-cat with a set of scars over her eyes, "Now if you would, follow me." she turned back to the tunnel and I stepped forward to follow her, I could hear Viper following me, "Just one of you please." Achlys said as we reached her. I glanced at Viper and silently tried to tell her, ' _I'll go._ ' ' _No! I won't let you._ ' her glare said. I glared back and we had a swift staring contest, Viper won. "I'm going." she said.

"Very well." Achlys said, "Come." she beckoned to Viper with her tail and vanished back into the tunnel. Viper paused for a moment before following her, "Be careful!" I called as Viper vanished into the darkness of the tunnel. I turned around and found that Mange had moved from his spot in the shadows, he's now standing in front of the exit of the entrance tunnel. Despite the fact that he didn't say anything that fact that he was standing there sent a clear message, " _You're not leaving._ " I let out a sigh of frustration and padded over to a corner of the cave, flopping down with a groan, " _When did my life become so complicated?_ " I complained in my mind. Come to think of it, I was only four moons old, most kits would still be living a carefree life, not being stuck in the middle of who knows what. I really missed that days when Viper and I would just play and spar with Mom and Soot watching us.

As time passed and my boredom increased, it became harder and harder to keep my eyes open, sleep threatened to overwhelm me. After glancing at the dark passage again I let my head droop and my eyes shut.

 _'I open my eyes and find that I'm in a field, "Twig," a familiar voice calls from behind me, I spin around and see my mother, "Mom!" I cry as I race over to her, "How, where is this? I thought you were dead!" My mother smiles a sad smile, "I am dead, but I am still watching over you, I cannot explain where we are, I do not know myself." "Is this real?" I asked as I spun around, "Is this actually you dream visiting me or am I just dreaming hopeful dreams?" she smiles, "No, this is real, but, I've come to warn you. You will go through a great suffering soon, do not let yourself give in. Be strong, I love you Twig." as soon as she finished speaking my mom began to disappear, " Wait!" I called, "What do you mean?! Come back!"_

I woke with a start, I was still in the cave, Mange was still guarding the exit. As I heaved myself to my paws I thought about the dream, could it have been real? Mom said it was real, but isn't that what all dreams are like? Don't they all feel real? That warning, what could it be for? What great suffering would I go through?

"Hey filth! the guards are heading back with your sister and Achlys will be ready to take you in." Mange's words knocked me out of my thoughts and I quickly went t the entrance of the tunnel, hoping that I would be able to talk to Viper about the strange dream. The sound of pawsteps echoes through the cave as the guards came closer to the cave, I peered into the tunnel, hoping to catch a glimpse of the cats coming in. the guards stepped out of the tunnel, supporting a cat between them. I let out a yelp of surprise and shock when I realized that the cat they were carrying was Viper, "Viper!" I cried as I darted over, "What happened?" she looked like a mess, there were cuts all over her and her eyes were glazed over with pain.

She lifted her head slightly and croaked, "Don't trust-" her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she went limp. I stared at her for a moment, don't trust? Don't trust what? Or who? "Are you ready?" Achlys asked, "No! What did you do to her?" I yelped, Achlys just shook her head, "We did nothing to her, this was all her doing." I blinked, "What do you mean?" Achlys simply replied, "Come with me and you'll see."

I scowled as I padded after Achlys, trying my hardest to not bombard her with questions. The tunnel went on for quite a while, before it spilled out into an, interesting, cave. The cave was dark and gave off a sinister feeling, yet it was oddly beautiful in the way that the dark crystal interior enchanted me, glinting and glittering. I felt oddly at home as I entered the cave. Near the back there was what looked like an altar of black crystal, two cats sat behind it and it looked like there was one more spot left for another cat.

Achlys told me to stay in the middle of the cave and she went to the dark altar and sat behind it, taking the last spot. The cat sitting in the middle, a gray and white splotched tom, turned his gaze on me and said, "We are the Council of the Gloom. You have been called before us because of who you are. You are extremely impor-" "Wait, who am I then?" the cat glares at me and then sighs, "You are the cat we were waiting for, you are the one with the blood of the Legion, ROMC and the Gloomforest, you are the cat who we've been waiting for."

I stare blankly at the cats, ' _Gloomforest blood, ROMC, the Legion, what do they mean?_ ' "Twig, we are asking for one thing, your loyalty. You have great powers that you have yet to discover. As the firstborn of Hawkclaw and Shadow, you were the original hybrid. Your sister should've died." "Hey!" I protested, Viper deserved to be alive! "I won't promise my loyalty! I will get out of here if it's the last thing I do!" I declare defiantly. Achlys sighs, "Stubborn, just like his sister. He will need some, ' _convincing_ '." "What are you doing?!" I yell as the guards drag me away to who knows where.

* * *

 **I blink my eyes open and look around groggily. Where am I? The last thing I remember is the guards taking me into a smaller cave. I heave myself onto my paws and look around. I'm back home, in the peaceful clearing I lived most of my life in. "Twig!" I turn as I hear my name and I see Viper charging towards me, "Viper! What's going on? Do you-"**

I stop abruptly as Viper runs straight through me and tackles me, wait, what? The version of my that Viper just tackles lets out a playful growl and swats at Viper, "Get off you lump!" the fake me yelps, "Mom's finally gonna teach us to hunt!" Viper yelps happily. What? Mom taught us to hunt- in the past. It finally comes to me, I'm in a memory.

As the memory progresses I follow my younger self and younger Viper and Mom as Mom teaches us to hunt. In the memory I am drawn to a bush near where we are learning, I am pushed forward into the bush and I can see the hunched figure of a cat watching the hunting lesson from the bush. My pelt spikes as I realize that the cat is Hawkclaw.

The memory jerks and then drops me into another, this time I see my Mom and Hawkclaw standing nose to nose in the forest and I can hear my Mom yelling at Hawkclaw, "No! I won't let you come anywhere near them! You are a monster! Stay away or Starclan help me, I will kill you." when she finishes speaking Mom stalks away, leaving Hawkclaw standing there alone.

I will myself to move forward and I catch the last sentence that leaves Hawkclaw's mouth, "But I will always love you all."

I jerk upright and look around, shick pulsing through my pelt, "Oh great. You're awake." the guard sitting by the entrance of the cave grumbles, "Come on, I'll take you back to your cell."

* * *

As I step back into the cell VIper darts out of the shadows and calls, "Twig! Are you ok?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Just, really confused." she frowns, "If they're doing the memory thing to you, just know that whatever they're trying to make you believe is wrong." "But maybe Mom really did make Hawkclaw stay away, maybe she-" "No! Twig, don't you see what they're trying to do? Don't let down your guard!" I sigh, I'll never win, "Fine." I hear Viper sigh, "I know you aren't going to stop thinking about it, but please just don't think too deeply." I grin, "Well look at that, when you become so motherly?" Viper scowls and flops down on the floor, "May as well get some sleep." she grumbles. I settle down next to her and lay my head on my paws and shut my eyes. I block out the feeling of the cold, hard ground and soon the stress of the day puts me to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3 Viper

I can see the memories affecting Twig, there's a new doubt in his eyes when I try to tell him not to believe the memories. He keeps asking me if what Mom told us was the actual truth. The Gloomforest cats no longer even try to get me on their side, not with Twig so close to cracking. The sound of pawsteps comes closer as a guard comes to get Twig, uneasiness weighs on my heart, something bad is going to happen today.

When Twig and the guard are gone I begin to pace, we need to get out now. While we still can. I pad over to the boulder blocking the door and shove it, hoping that it'll move. No such luck. I rack my brain for other ways I could escape but nothing comes to mind, the walls are pure stone and the boulder won't move. I flop down on the ground and let out a sigh of defeat.

I blink my eyes open and look around, I must've fallen asleep. "Twig?" I call, waiting for my brother's response, "Twig? Are you here?". "Shut up." a voice growls, "Some cats are trying to sleep." I'm on my paws in a heartbeat, if there's a random cat in the cell with me, then where's Twig? I begin to walk around the cave, hoping to run into another cat, one that wasn't Mr. Grumpy.

Once I'd combed through all parts of the cave except for the area where Mr. Grumpy's voice had come from, I took a deep breath and forged on into Mr. Grumpy's side of the cave. Good news, I managed to not run into Mr. Grumpy, bad news, I didn't find Twig anywhere. I flopped on the ground and sighed, ' _Why did this happen to me?_ ' I wondered, ugh all because of whatever's in my blood apparently. The sound of stone scraping on stone shakes me out of my thoughts.

A guard sticks their head in and calls, "Little runty one, the council wants to talk with you."I stared at the guard warily and questioned, "What do they want?" "Hey, I'm just the messenger, I don't know what they want." I growled in annoyance and after a moment I stepped out of the cave and followed the guard.

We went through the hundreds of tunnels that twisted through the earth and as we went I subtly used my paw to check the floor for the scratch marks I'd been leaving every day when the guards took Twig and I to the memory room. So far the guard and I had gone through tunnels that I'd went through on day 2,4,6 and 9. There was no pattern at all. The only consistent part of the journey was when we went through the clearing. If I had to guess I'd have to say that there are two parts of the Gloomforest lair, the part with the guard's area and the cells and the part with the chambers of the important cats and the memory cave.

"Go on in, they're waiting for you." the guard said as we stopped in front of the boulder that blocked the passage to the council and the memory cave. The guards guarding the boulder moved the boulder away from the tunnel entrance to let me in and I stepped into the tunnel. Mange was standing in the cave at the bottom of the tunnel, leering at me, "It's your last day little Heir." he cackled. I growled at him and continued down the tunnel. I tried not to think of his comment but my brain betrayed me, ' _Was Mange right? Is today the day I die?_ ' the little nagging voice at the back of my head whispered, "Shut up!" I growled out loud, my voice echoed off the walls.

I padded out of the tunnel and into the cave where the council was and called, "Hey, Gloomy people, you wanted to see me?" Achlys stands, "When you came to us-" "We were kidnapped, but continue." Achlys glares at me but continues, "we were looking for the cat of the prophecy, the ones with the blood of many. We never thought that there'd be two of you, however we have decided that we will no longer need you. Your brother was much easier to win over." I stare at her in shock, "Twig would never join you." I say, I cringe as I heard the note of doubt in my voice.

Achlys smiles, "Whether you believe it or not Twig is on our side and we no longer have a use for you. We have a new… member who needs some training. He should be able to kill you. We would send you in right now, but one of our members requested to talk with you. He should be waiting outside Mange's cave." I nod and walk out of the cave.

Once I get into the tunnel I let my emotion mask fall away, " _I'm gonna die!_ " my brain screams. A low whimpering noise fills my ears and I realize that I'm screaming through my teeth. I let myself have a moment for fear and then I force myself to stand and walk the remainder of the tunnel and exit into Mange's cave. Mange is still in there and when he sees me he stalks over and cackles, "Heard about your death yet? Oh wait, I think I can see it in your face." " _Hmm, should I just let him get away with the comment or… yeah, if I'm gonna die I may as well beat up an annoying cat._ " sometimes I like my brain.

I grin at Mange and lunge forward, swiping my paw at his face. Mange lets out a yelp as my claws connect with his face and blood flies through the air. I step back and survey the damage I did, four scratch marks were now marring Mange's cheek. I leave Mange in his cave nursing the wounds while I walk out of the tunnel to go meet up with whoever requested a conversation.

"Hawkclaw." I snarl as I see him standing at the entrance of the tunnel, "Viper." he says, "Can we please have a proper conversation, as father and daughter?" he pleads. I glare at him, "You're not my father." he glares back, "You should be thanking me for requesting this conversation, I bought you some more time to live." I snort, "I would rather die than have a conversation with you." Hawkclaw's gaze softened, "You act like your mother, you know." I turn to him in surprise, "What? Mom never acted like this." he laughs, "Not in front of you and Twig, but back before everything happened and we had just become mates, she was just as playful and stubborn as you are now."

I look Hawkclaw in the eye and ask, "Can you tell me more about my mother, and the prophecy?" Hawkclaw hesitates, "Fine, but we need to go somewhere where no one can hear." he turns and walks towards the tunnel that leads to the clearing. I follow him and silently plan my escape.

Once we reach the clearing Hawkclaw nods to the guards in the clearing and then leads me out the side of the clearing and into the forest. Once we're out of hearing range of the guards Hawkclaw sits and opens his mouth to talk. I don't give him the chance, I leap at him and swiftly slam his head into a tree, knocking him out. "Thanks for the escape route _'Father'_ " I hiss as I stalk off into the woods.

Hopefully Hawkclaw won't wake up anytime soon.

* * *

I silently sneak back into the Gloomforest lair and begin to make my way to the tunnel where the training area is. If Twig actually joined them then he would be somewhere in the training area. I really hope that I don't find him there. I quietly walk into the training room, my eyes searching for the familiar pelt. I keep my head down, just in case any of these new recruits recognize me and sound the alarm or something.

I've made it halfway around the cave when I heard some cat call, "Recruits! Listen up!" I turn towards the voice and see the cat that I've come to know as Sandfire standing in the entrance of the cave, "I want you all to welcome my son," ' _Wait, what? Sandfire has a son?'_ I worm my way through the crowd of recruits until I'm semi close to the entrance. I peer through the remaining cats and try to see what Sandfire's son looks like, knowing what Sandfire looks like I wouldn't be surprised if he was so ugly he'd melt the eyeballs off of all the cats in the cave.

"Cobra! Come on in!" Sandfire calls, I can see the figure of a cat approaching. Sandfire's son appears in the entrance and my jaw drops, "Twig?" I whisper, it has to be Twig, how can one unrelated cat look exactly like another?

Sandfire's ears prick up and she smiles, "I hear that someone thinks that Cobra is someone else. Come on out Viper." I stay right where I am, knowing that if I leave the safety of the crowd Sandfire will pounce on me and murder me, whether it's in front of the recruits or not. Still, I have to get out of here, preferably with Twig, he must be faking it, there's no way he would willingly act like Sandfire's son.

Sandfire moves away from Twig for a moment to talk to a recruit and I move. I barrel forward and shove my shoulder into Twig, "Move!." I yell at him, he trips over his paws and falls to the floor. I can see confusion and fear in his gaze, "Twig! Come on!" my brother stumbles to his paws and stares at me like he doesn't know me, then he opens his mouth and yells, "MOM!" Sandfire whirls around from where she's talking to a recruit and snarls, "Get away from my son!" I turn back to Twig and plead, "Twig, please, I just want to ask you a few questions." Twig hesitates, "Fine." he agrees. He bolts off into the tunnels and I follow, we quickly leave Sandfire and the noise of the training cave behind.

We run through hundreds of tunnels, retracing our steps, crossing different tunnels, squishing through soggy ground and finally worming out of a crack in the wall to reach a hidden clearing. Twig sits and then turns to me, "What did you want?" I scan the underbrush for an escape route and reply, "I just had a few questions Twig." my eyes land on a small gap between some thorns and a tree and I pad over to sit next to it. I notice Twig watching me and when I sit he replies, "Why do you keep calling me Twig? My name is Cobra." I stare at Twig, or Cobra, "What? Wait," I think I know what happened, "Do you remember Mom? Or Soot?" Cobra stares at me, "Of course I remember Mom! How could I forget my Mom? I don't know who Soot is, should I know who Soot is?"

"If you remember Mom, then what's her name?" I ask, "Mom is Sandfire." he says. "What do you remember?" I ask, Cobra hesitates and then warily replied, "I don't remember that much, Mom told me that I slipped on some soggy moss and hit my head a few days ago, I went into a coma and when I woke up my older memories were really fuzzy. I used to have a littermate but they died of greencough when I was half a moon old." I stare at Cobra, shock pulsing through my pelt, "So you don't remember…anything." Cobra shakes his head, "Whatever you seen so intent on having me remember, I don't remember it."

"This way! I can smell their scent!" I bolt to my paws, my eyes darting to the escape route as the sound of the other cats draw near, "Cobra, please, you need to remember. Come with me, I want you back." the cat who once was my brother slowly shook his head, "I can't, this is my home." I open my mouth to ask again, but Sandfire's head appears in the crack and she smirks, "Found you." she snarls.

I bolt, shooting into the escape route and take off, sprinting through the forest. I can hear the sounds of Sandfire and the other Gloomforest cats chasing after me. Trees fly past as I bolt through the forest. I splash through a stream in hopes of making my pursuers lose my scent and then burrow into a patch of brambles, ignoring the pricks of pain as the thorns sank into my flesh. The sounds of the Gloomforest cats come closer and I curl into a smaller ball, hoping that they won't see my dark pelt in the brambles. "I've lost her scent." one of them calls, "We should head back." another says, I can see Sandfire's face contort and she growls, "Fine, but so help me, if I cross paths with her again, I will kill her." she whirls around and heads back into the forest. The other Gloomforest cats follow and soon I'm left alone again.

 **A/N Alright, I've decided to do both P. it'll alternate each chapter unless there's something really important that needs to be two chapters long. I feel like no one is even going to see this a/n but if a miracle happens and someone sees it, whelp, good for you, you stopped to see the words of a lonely author who's trying to get more people to read their story :P. Anyhow, if you're reading this, have a nice rest of the day!**


	4. Chapter 4 Twig

**A/N OK, so I'm not dead, nor is this story. I'm sorry for not uploading for so long, but I had a case of writer's block and I couldn't get on this site for quite awhile. Anyhow, enjoy the chapter!**

I watch as Mom comes back, anger and frustration written on her face, "You didn't get her?" I ask, expecting to only get and angry shake of the head in response. "No we didn't. and I need to talk to you about your actions today." I lower my head in shame, "I know what I did," I say, "I agreed to go talk with the prisoner, and I made no move to block her when she made her escape." Mom nods, "And what would be a suitable punishment?" I think for a moment and decide that it'd probably be safer to have Mom come up with the punishment, "I don't know, what do you think?" I reply.

Mom thinks for a moment and then declares my punishment, "You have to help the populator for ten days." I resist letting out a groan, the populator has the most boring job ever, all he does is just count how many cats have joined the Gloomforest and do it over and over again. Since he likes to do all the counting himself when you're sent to help him you're forced to stay in his horrible cave all day doing nothing. He never lets you leave so all you do is just sit there and watch him count. "You will go to the populator at sunrise and return at sundown." I couldn't hold in a protest at this, "Mom! That's all day!" she glares at me, "It's a fitting for what you've done." I open my mouth again, but her icy stare warns against me saying anything.

I let out a sigh and return to my sleeping cave, flopping down on my soft bedding and thinking about everything that happened today. I shut my eyes and try to recall my older memories, they were still fuzzy. I smile into the darkness as one of my favorite memories comes up, it was bittersweet, but I love it.

I was only half a moon old in this memory. My littermate, Smoke, bounds up to me, her amber eyes glinting, she opens her mouth and calls to me. The first words were lost, but I could hear the rest, "- wanna go hunt with mom?" I had answered yes, and the two of us had bounded away to find mom. The memory ends and I open my eyes into the darkness. My cave was fairly empty, which I find weird somedays, but my mom said that when I went into the coma no one knew if I would live, so she gave a lot of my stuff to the other Gloomforest cats. "We can always get you more items." she said. Pawsteps neared the entrance of my cave and my mom sticks her head in, I quickly shut my eyes, praying that she hadn't noticed that I was awake.

"So clueless," she whispers, "I pray that you never remember." then she turns away and walks to her sleeping cave. What did she not want me to remember? The prisoner, Viper, had kept asking me to remember too. What the heck had I forgotten that was so important? Slowly my mind began to drift and my eyes drooped, I soon fell asleep.

"Tw-Cobra! Cobra, get up!" someone shouts. I let out a grumble and try to sink back into the warm depths of sleep. "Cobra get up right now or the Gloom help me I will come in there and drag you out." my mind was still hazy but I manage to mumble out, "Go away Soot, I'll get up soon." I hear a sharp intake of breath and then the voice comes again, "Cobra get up or I will send you to the Council." at this I blink my eyes open, I bolt to my feet and dart out into the tunnel, "Please no." I plead as Mom comes into view. She lets out an affectionate purr, "I won't, at least not today." she waves her tail at the storage niche and meows, "There's some prey in there. Eat and then go to the populator."

I grumble unhappily at being reminded of my unpleasant punishment, but I head over to the storage niche and grab a mouse. I join Mom in the main cave and dig into the mouse. "Wt-er-ou-oin-o-d-al-y?" I ask, trying to speak around the mouthful of mouse. Mom smiles at me and shakes her head, "Don't speak with your mouth full Cobra." I swallow and repeat the question, "What are you going to do all day?" she smiles, "I'm going to be going on a mission to recruit some new fighters." "That sounds cool, can I come with you?" I ask hopefully. Mom laughs and shakes her head, "No you my child, are going to go help the populator." I let out a growl of annoyance but I still head off to the populator's cave.

The Populator lets out an irritated grunt as I enter his cave and tell him that I'm supposed to help him today. "Sit and don't bother me." he growls, before turning back to his work. I let out a quiet sigh and retreat to a corner of the cave. "1….2..3….4….5….6….7…..8…..9…..10…." the Populator mutters aloud as he counts and slowly the quiet murmur of the counting begins to lull me to sleep. My eyes droop and dreams flicker at the edge of my vison…"Cobra! Get your lazy tail up and actually help me!" the Populator's voice cuts into my dream and I let out a groan as I haul myself to my paws.

"What would you like me to help you with?" I ask, trying to be polite since the kits and the new recruits were required to show respect to everyone who ranked above them. "I'm hungry, get me some prey." he snarls as he turns back to his counting, "Don't just stand there, move!" he snaps. I scramble out of the cave and bolt towards the cave where the fresh kill is kept. "Rat!" I call as I see the burly tom come into view, he looks up and replies, "Hey, Cobra! What're you doing over here?" "Could I have a piece of prey for the Populator? I'm stuck helping him all day." Rat eyes me sympathetically, "Here you go, good luck with the old grouch." he says as he chucks a chunk of some mystery meat that the scavengers probably brought from a twolegplace. I dip my head in thanks and make my way back to the Populator's cave.

"Here you go."

I say as I drop the meat next to the Populator, he looks over at the meat and quickly snaps it up. I look away disgusted, trying not to recall the image of the Populator tearing into the meat. I wish that I could also block out the sounds of his eating too. "Ugh, gross, you need to get better eating habits." surprised, I look around the cave for whoever spoke and my gaze lands on a group of three cats standing in the entrance of the cave.

Populator looks up for a moment and snarls, "Get out, I told you to never come back here."

then he returns to his meal, filling the cave with the disgusting sounds of his eating. The cat that seems to be the leader of the group snorts, "You wouldn't mind if we took your little helper with us, would you?" "Just get as far away from this cave as you can, I don't care." the leader of the little group snorts and then glances at me, "You coming?"

I shrug and follow the group out of the cave. Once we enter the tunnels the group of cats start to run, I pick up my pace, trying not to lose them. We run through a maze of tunnels and finally stop in a dark tunnel that I've never been in. The leader walks forward and stares me in the eye as she asks, "Do you promise to never reveal the location of this tunnel or anything else we show you?" I look around at the cats surrounding me and solemnly say, "I promise on my life." the leader thinks for a second and then retreats into the shadows of the tunnel to discuss it with the other members of the group of kits.

As they conversed I stood awkwardly in the middle of the tunnel, trying not to listen in on the conversation. Finally they split apart and the leader stepped forward, "Welcome to the Shadow Gang." I tipped my head in confusion, "The Shadow Gang? What's-" "Not here, follow us." the leader hisses as I try to ask questions. The group/gang leads me into the darkness of the tunnel and I hear splashes as the cats in front of e walk through some form of water.

"Get ready to hold your breath." a voice hisses from next to me. "What?!" I nearly yelp out loud but I manage to control my terror, "When?" I ask, as calmly as I can, "Now." the voice replies. The slab of rock that I was standing on drops away and suddenly I'm sinking into water. Panic fills me as I realize that I can no longer touch the bottom, somehow I force my body to keep moving, I try to find the other members of the gang, but without my senses of sight and smell I can't.

My breath starts to run out and I try to swim back towards the surface, but something latches onto my hindleg and begins to pull me down into the depths of the watery pit of doom. I begin to thrash around and I automatically open my mouth to cry for help. All that comes out is a burst of bubbles and the remnants of all the breath left in me. My body tries to inhale but all I get is a lungful of water. I choke and darkness begins to fill my vision. Would this be how I would die? Drowning in a hidden cave? Away from everything and one I love? ' _I'm sorry mom…_ '

Just as my consciousness floated away from me I felt the breeze on my ears and heard someone exclaim, "What the heck happened?"

* * *

 **"Hey, are you awake yet?" a voice calls, the voice echos in my mind and I respond with an unrecognizable noise, "Splurrghf…" I groan, "Look! He's alive! I** ** **am**** **responsible!" my eyes feel like they've been sealed with pine sap, but I slowly force them open. A pair of figures sitting nearby slowly turns into cats as my vision focuses on them. It's the tortoiseshell she-cat/leader and the gray and white tom from the group.**

I get to my paws and stand there for a moment, taking in my surroundings, I was in a large cave that I'd never seen before. "Where are we?" I ask as I pad over to them, "This is the Cave of Shadows," the she-cat tells me, "As soon as the last member of our gang gets back we'll start your initiation."

Just then the last cat, a light gray she-cat with bright green eyes, bursts in, calling "Sorry! Sorry! I had to go back to cover for your lazy butts." the two other members of the group stand and the leader calls back, "Thanks! Did anyone follow you?" the gray she-cat shakes her head, "If anyone tried, they would've lost me when I went through the collapsed tunnel."

I stand there awkwardly and stare at my paws, I feel like a stranger in this group of tightly knit friends. I look up and catch the tom's eye as the two she-cats start to talk, " _Help me_. " I mouth, he lets out a snorts but still calls, "Hey let's start initiation already." the she-cats turn around and the leader nods, "Right, I almost forgot. Come on Cobra." she and the rest of the cats head towards a tunnel leading further into the rock.

I run after them and once I catch up I ask, "How do you know my name?" the leader flicks her tail as if the answer should be obvious, "We keep track of all the possible recruits for the Night Stalkers and everyone knows the name of the little Heir." "What do you mean? Heir for what?" the leader stares at me in shock, "You mean they never told you?" my confused look must've said everything, "You are the Heir, you have the blood of the Legion, ROMC and best of all, the Gloomforest. You're supposed to have all sorts of cool powers."

I shrug, "They never told me anything, this is the first time I've even heard anything about being an heir." by the time we finished talking the group had reached the entrance of a small cave that was oddly bright, "We're here." the tom declares. The leader leads the way into the cave and tells me to stand in the center. "Watch this, it's really cool." the gray she-cat whispers to me. The tom and the leader balance on their hindlegs and begin to shove something in the roof of the cave.

"Woah…" I whisper as whatever had been in the roof is moved away and a small ray of light illuminates the cave. The leader steps forward towards the light and beckons for me to join her. I hesitate for a moment and then step forward, "Cobra, do you want to be a member of the Night Stalkers?" the leader asks, "Uh, I guess so. Yeah I do want to be a member." I stammer out, unsure of what I'm supposed to say.

The other two snicker at my response but the leader silences them with a glare, "Does anyone disapprove of admitting Cobra?" no one responded, the leader nodded and then she grabbed a shiny piece of some kind of twoleg item and placed it in the ray of light. Then they all stood and watched the thing in the ray of light, I'm thoroughly confused.

After some time the leader speaks again, "Place your paw on the metal." I'm still confused but I place my paw on the metal. As soon as my paw touches the metal pain shoots through my leg. I let out a yelp and try to withdraw my paw, but I find that the leader has placed her paw over mine, keeping my paw in place. "Wait till the metal loses its heat." she instructs. The pain is almost unbearable and I feel like screaming out loud.

Several torturous moments later the metal is finally cool. The leader lets me remove my paw and I hop back, inspecting my paw. There's now an area of scorched flesh on my pad. The other members of the group cheer and welcome me to the group, I manage a smile and ask, "Do all of you have this mark or did I just get it because I'm new?" in response they lift up their paws and display a similar scorch mark on their pads.

"Welcome to the Night Stalkers." The leader meows.


	5. Chapter 5 Viper

**A/N I'm definitely not good at this... Geez, I don't even remember the last time I uploaded a new chapter. Anyhow, here's chapter five, feel free to tell me what you think is good or bad about my writing ^u^. Enjoy! (P.S I have a poll on my profile if you wanna go check that out.)**

I glance around warily, searching for any sign of the Gloomforest cats. When I don't see any hiding in the undergrowth, I carefully crawl out of my hiding place. As I stand and shake the burrs out of my pelt, I try to come up with a plan. Twig, or Cobra, is gone, I know that. Mom and Soot are gone too, so that leaves me with absolutely no one. Great. I let out a sigh and wander towards the twolegplace that I'd seen from my hiding place.

I approach the barrier of upright sticks that's called a fence and scramble to the top. "Hi!" a voice calls as a cat pops up right in front of my nose.

I let out a yelp of surprise and jump back. I sink my claws into the fence just before I fall off.

"Oh! Sorry, did I startle you?" the voice asks.

I claw my way back up the fence and mutter, "Yeah, just a bit."

The cat tips their head sideways, "What's your name? I haven't seen you around before, which house is yours?"

I hesitate, "I'm new around here, and what's a "house"?" I answer, skirting around the question about my name.

"You don't know what a house is?!" the cat exclaims, "Where've you been living for your whole life?"

I shrug, "I live in the woods, but I've spent the past few moons as a prisoner in some dark caves."

The cat's eye widen, "Are you serious? Are you one of those weird cats who lives in a huge group and trains to fight all the time?"

"I guess?" I reply, unsure of what the cat was talking about.

"Well you should head back to them. I'm Caylee by the way. I never caught your name?"

"Oh, right, I'm umm, sort of lost?" I say, "and I'm Storm."

"Well, Storm, you cats are over that way, head towards that forest over there." Caylee says, pointing her tail towards a large chunk of forest.

I start to dart towards the woods, but I pause, "Thanks Caylee!" I yell over my shoulder.

"No problem!" she yells back.

I pick up my pace as I reach the end of the fence. I didn't know what group of cats Caylee was talking about, but they sounded like clans. Hopefully they would be friendly, and not in cahoots with the Gloomforest.

I was about to bolt across a strip of stone with yellow stripes when someone snatched my tail and hauled me back. I immediately flipped around and slashed at my attacker. I felt my claws connect and the cat yelped in pain. The grip on my tail loosened and I jumped to my feet, a growl rumbling in my throat.

I eyed my attacker, it was a dark gray tom with lighter paws and underbelly. A fairly deep scratch was oozing blood from his cheek. "Is this how you thank the cats who save you?" he asks, nursing the wound.

"What do you mean? I was just trying to move along and you grabbed me and pulled me back!" I snarl, annoyed that this cat thinks that he saved me. Just then a large thing barrels past on the stone. I fluff up my fur as it stirs up a gust of wind.

"What was that?" I ask

"That was a monster, the run along this strip of stone all day, if I hadn't pulled you back you would've gotten killed." the cat replies, looking very smug.

"Well, then I suppose I owe you an apology and some gratitude…." I say, narrowing my eyes at the stone path.

The cat sits there, as if waiting for me to apologize, I just stared back at him, challenging him with my gaze. Eventually the cat stands and begins to walk off. An alarm goes off in my head, this was some kind of test. I watch the cat for a moment then I turn back to looking at the stone path, as if I weren't interested in the fact that the cat was leaving.

I sit there for a while, making sure that the cat was far enough away, if the cat had actually gone away. I stand slowly and stretch, taking my time and using the stretching to look around. There was no one nearby.

I lift my head and sniff the air, the scent of the cat was still there, it wasn't extremely strong, meaning that the cat wasn't hiding around the side of one of the twoleg things. I begin to follow the trail. It leads me in a zigzagging trail through the twoleg dens and across a stone path with monsters. Then it plunges into the woods at the edge of the twolegplace.

The scent stops at a stream. I pause, a spike of unease fills my stomach, maybe this cat actually didn't want to be followed. Then I see a flash of gray fur in the depths of the forest. Bingo. If the cat hadn't wanted to be followed he wouldn't have stayed around, he would've kept moving.

I lower myself into a crouch and creep along the forest floor, careful to not make a noise. As I get closer to where I saw the flash of fur I hear voices. I creep a little closer and hear, "Are you sure she's the one?" a quiet voice asks.

"Yes, I'm sure, she had the snake one her foreleg. She has to be." the gray cat answers.

"She could've been a kittypet, twolegs like to do weird things to their kittypets." the other voice retorts, exasperation in their voice. The cats then fall silent, waiting and watching.I silently debate whether I should reveal myself or not. These cats could be working for the Gloomforest, that was the only reason they would know what I looked like.

I make my decision and quietly creep away from the clump of bushes where the cats are hiding. That's when I make my mistake, I turn back to make sure they aren't following me and my paw hits a twig. The snap echoes through the quiet forest, I freeze, eyes wide. I see movement inside the bushes and a head pokes out, looking around.

"Hey!" it calls when it sees me, it seems to look closer, then it yells, "It's her!" the bushes shake as the other cat scrambles out of the bushes. My eyes widen and I bolt away.

As I run my mind races, I have to find somewhere to hide. There has to be somewhere safe. I pause by a tree stump catching my breath and collecting my thoughts. A stick snaps in the forest behind me and I whip around, scanning the trees for the cat who snapped the stick. A flash of gray fur catches my eye, the cat followed me, "What do you want?" I call, "Why are you following me?"

More sticks snap as the cat gets to his feet and walks out into the open, "I would explain, but you keep running away."

I flatten my ears, "Why shouldn't I run away from you? You're a strangers, you were talking about how I'm "the one" with your friend and now you've followed me. For all I know you could be working with the Gloomforest to capture me and take me back to the prison caves."

The cat's eyes widen with surprise and he shakes his head, "I'm not part of the Gloomforest. I'm a member of a group that's been on the lookout for the cat of the prophecy since the prophecy was received."

I hesitate, it would be nice to be around other cats again, but I still don't trust this cat. "Sorry, but I need to find a certain group of cats, I'm not interested in your group." on the inside I cringe, the lie is terrible, if this cat buys it…

The cat stares at me, I can't tell if he's buying the lie or not. "Which group are you looking for?" he asks.

Crap. I rack my brain for a group to say, "Umm…it's the…uh… the… Legion! Right, the Legion." I let out a breath, silently thanking my mom for telling Twig and I stories about ROMC and the Legion.

The cat looks surprised, "That's my group, I can take you to the camp to talk to the leader."

I curse silently, of course this cat would know the Legion. "On second thought…" I don't even give the cat a chance to respond, I just run. Behind me I hear the cat yell, "Come on!" and pawsteps follow me.

I bolt through the forest, avoiding trees and worming through brambles in an attempt to lose my pursuer. As I worm through yet another patch of thorns a strong scent reaches my nose. It smelled like a large group of cats in one place. The scents of multiple cats was overwhelming.

I followed my nose, forcing my way through the thorns. Suddenly the ground vanishes underneath me. I yelp as I crash down the side of a ravine, my paws scrabbling for purchase on the side of the hill. I land with a thump at the bottom of the ravine, bruised and covered with dirt.

"Ow." I groan as I pick myself up. Looking around, I realize that I've landed in an open area, hidden from the rest of the forest by the trees. It's quite peaceful, I relax as I follow walk through the tall grasses of the ravine.

My stomach lets out a grumble, reminding me that I'd been a while since I'd eaten. I pause, sniffing the air to see if any prey was nearby. The scent of mouse reaches my nose, making my mouth water, I drop into a hunter's crouch and begin to stalk through the undergrowth for my prey. I spy the mouse sitting on a leaf, nibbling on a seed. I creep a little closer, making sure that the mouse doesn't sense me.

I leap. My body darting forward with all the ferocity and speed of a starving cat. I land right on top of the mouse, it doesn't even get a chance to squeak before I snap its neck.

I retreat back to the ravine to eat my meal, crouching in the shadow of a bush as I ravenously tear into the fresh-kill. Soon the mouse is gone and my stomach is pleasantly full. I move out of the shadow of the bush and begin to wash my pelt. I shut my eyes for a moment, savoring the feeling of the sun on my pelt.

A feeling of unease came over me, I glanced at the surrounding woods, sure that someone was watching me. A few moments later the feeling leaves, but I am left with a sense that whatever had been watching me had just been observing, had it tried to attack it would've inflicted severe injuries.

I try to relax but the feeling of unease still lingers. I spend the rest of the day searching through the surrounding forest for any signs of what had been watching me. As time passes the feeling of unease slowly wans, leaving me more relaxed but still wary.

As night falls, I look at the sky, admiring the stars. A memory rises to front of my mind,

 _I am playing on a hill, my mother is looking at the stars while I play moss-ball with Twig._ _"Look at the stars, they're the cats of Starclan watching over you." I turn to look at my mother, "Mom, what's Starclan?" I ask curiously. "Starclan is the clan of the cats who have died and are now watching over us." "I think that's a load of mousedung." Soot interrupts as he climbs to the top of the hill, "Soot!" my mother scolds "What?! You have your beliefs, I have mine." my mother shakes her head, "You only believe in a full stomach." she jokes. "True." Soot replies, settling down next to my mother._

I let out sigh as a wave of déjà vu comes over me. I miss the days when my only problems were beating Twig in moss-ball and learning how to hunt.

A nearby owl lets out a hoot and jolts me out of my reminiscing. Night has fallen and I need to find a place to sleep, I pad back into the deeper parts of the forest, searching for a more sheltered area to sleep. Eventually I settle on a tree with a dip near its roots. I settle into the dip, curling myself into a ball to conserve body heat, silently I thank the world for being new-leaf, I would've been frozen if it'd been leaf-bare. Slowly I drift off to sleep, dreaming of the days when my life was carefree and fun.

I wake to the sound of leaves crunching under paws. I cautiously open one eye and glance around the surrounding forest. I can see the flashes of fur in-between the trees and my pelt prickles, someone or some ones are watching me. "Who are you?" I call, warily watching the forest, "What do you want?" no reply came from the silent forest. I take a step forward, "Come out." I say, walking closer to the trees. My skin prickles as I pad closer to the eerily silent trees.

" _Now._ " a quiet whisper floats through the air. I spin around, unsheathing my claws and baring my teeth. Cats melt from the trees, forming a complete circle around me. I hiss as I scan the circle for weak links, there aren't any. Everycat surrounding me looks like a seasoned warrior.

"What is the meaning of this?" I snarl, trying to buy myself time. The cats give no answer, leaving me confused. What was their purpose? Were they working for the Gloomforest? Just then one of the cats nods at another and the cat steps forward and touches her paw to my head.

A wave of dizziness threatens to overcome me, I shake my head, shoving away the light-headedness. The cat steps away, shock in their eyes, "It didn't work." Now I know that it was a she-cat.

The cat who had motioned for her to step forward replies, "It must be her, only one cat could've resisted that. Looks like we're gonna have to use a different method."

I don't have time to wonder what the different method is, something hits my head and the world turns dark.


	6. TSM End

**A/N Hey guys, so I know it's been a long time since I last published a chapter. I don't have an excuse, I just lost interest in this story. It's not like anyone is going to miss this story anyhow XD. Anyway, I'm ending TSM so this chapter is sort of just a summary of what I had planned for this story. Enjoy.**

Summary of what was supposed to happen.

Viper's side

Viper would be taken into the Legion and made some friends. She would be trained to use her powers (I never actually made up the powers) and learned about the history of the Gloomforest, the Legion and ROMC. After she finishes learing what she can from the Legion she travels to the ROMC to train and to visit the prophecy stone thing on the mountain. Later she returns to the Legion to find that Twig has come to the Legion with his friend. She doesn't know whether to be happy or sad because after she approaches him, Twig reveals that he doesn't remember her and now goes by the name Cobra. She is instructed by the leader of the Legion to not try to make him remember his past as it would very confusing and not the best for his sanity. Viper agrees to not try and watches Cobra from a distance, hoping that he would remember.

When she is thirteen moons old she is sent out on a mission with her friend Azara, Cobra and Ary. They have to go to a faraway set of clans to spy on a clan called Pineclan that pretty much worships the Gloomforest. Viper doesn't fully trust Ary, nor does she believe that Cobra will ever remember. So she tells them to infiltrate Pineclan while she and Azara go to scout the place where Pineclan worships the Gloomforest. They end up getting information on the Gloomforest's plans and decide to return to the Legion. On their way home they pass the place where Viper and Twig were born. Viper insists on stopping there for the night, Cobra approaches her later that night, asking her about why this place is important to her. She hesitates but eventually opens up and tells him about her kithood, doing her best to leave gaps where Cobra was in her life. She hopes that after hearing the story Cobra would remember but he doesn't. He just looks even more confused, so she just tells him to forget what she told him.

A few moons after returning to the Legion the Gloomforest finds the Legion and attacks. Rumors about a spy fly around the camp and the top suspects and Cobra and Ary, they are taken in for questionning and Ary later admits that she had told one of her old friends that she saw one day where the Legion was. She is then taken to a prison and constantly monitored for a long time. The Legion decides to send Viper and Cobra into the Gloomforest to spy. Viper is unsure about being sent into the heart of the enemy base with a cat who was raised by the enemy, but she knows that Cobra is the most logical choice, he knows the tunnels and the cats in charge.

They had to the Gloomforest where they are caught and thrown back into the caves that serve as cells. Viper has vivid flashbacks of her first time in these cells and keeps having nightmares. Cobra is unaffected since he doesn't remember, but he becomes worried for Viper. After about half a moon they are released from the cells and sent into the care of Sandfire who Cobra still believes is his mother. They eventually earn the trust of the Gloomforest and are given free rein of the tunnels. After a long time they get all the Glooomforest's plans and manage to assassinate one of the Council members. They escape back to the Legion and report everything. The legion prepares to attack the next day.

The groups clash in the place that used to be the land of the clans. After a long and hard battle The Legion manages to win and everyone is celebrating, but then Cobra starts to avct weird and crazy. He starts to attack everybody and Viper has to try to stop him. She tries to subdue him without killing him, but when that proves to be futile she is forced to fatally wound him. As Cobra is dying Viper tearfully tells him stories of their childhood,, trying to make him remember at the last second. A spark ignites in his eyes for a moment, but before he can speak he dies.

The End

Twig's side

While Viper was training at the Legion, Cobra was being trained by the Gloomforest. He had strange dreams about what he thinks is nonsense but is actually flashbacks of his past. As he got older he began to get tired of the constant training he had to do, so he began to sneak away from the training and hang out with his friends. The names of the Night Stalkers are revealed, the leader is called Amaryllis (goes by Ary), the gray and white tom is Garter, and light gray she-cat is Slate. When Ary starts to develop the ability to pretty much brainwash other, which is her family's hereditary power, Cobra starts to question his past. He later remembers that there was a group called the Legion that might help him. He tells his little group of friends and they plan to set off in a quarter moon. Everything goes wrong, they meet a guard who doesn't recognize them at first and accidentally kills Slate before realizing who she was. Garter who was Slate's brother was enraged and attacked the guard, he told Cobra and Ary to run and so they do. Leaving Garter to an unknown fate.

They later make it to the Legion and everything that happened in Viper's side happened. The quest, the spying, the battle yadayadaya (Btw I'm' so sorry that this is short and not detailed, I'm writing this at 12 midnight b/c i have to go on a trip tommorrow XD)

Anyhow here's the death scene

I didn't feel anything at first, but then the pain hit me, it burned through my skin and made me realize that I was dying. I winced, maybe it was better that way, I had a few snippets of my fight with Viper in my memory and the only thin I can say is that, well I wasn't myself. I was vicious and cruel. I don't know what possessed me. Viper is right next to me, telling me the same stories she told me when we stopped at her birthplace. At least, I thought they were the same stories, but now she fills in the holes and gaps she left in her old story, she fills them with her memories of me. What she's telling me can;t be true, I can't be her brother, I can't be the son of Shadow and Hawkclaw, I most definitely am not Twig. I keep telling myself this but my mind starts to believe her, memories of times before began to flow into my mind. Then I saw a cat step out from behind Viper, "Mom?" I question, the cat fit my memories of the cat called Shadow who was my birth mother. She smiles and nods, "Is it time for me to go?" I ask, not sure if I want to know the answer. She nods again and I step forward to join her. As I look at my body I see Viper crying silently, so I walk over to her and quietly whisper, "It wasn't your fault, I'll watch over you, _sister_." Then I turn and follow my mother to the world beyond.

The End

 **A/N Well, that was that... I'm actually kind of sad to be prematurly ending this story, but if I continued it the story would be horrible. Anyhow if anyone's actually reading this and actually likes the story and is sad to see it go, well...um...sorry, but it's not coming back. So thank you to anyone who decided to read this and if anyone has any suggestions or critisism on my writing style feel free to pm me or comment. Urgh it's really late I need sleep. Goodnight**

 **-Viper**


End file.
